The End of the World

"Crowded Rooms" opens the debut LP from this quietly celebrated N.Y.C. outfit with the band's signature charms -- a gracefully posed, melancholic melody soaring over a vigorous bass line and unhurried chug of guitar. The record re-examines the rawboned post-Velvets composure more elegantly than most of the post-Stokers they're likely filed alongside, with the most gripping examples in "White Sands" and "Fangs and Fog." Singer Stefan Marolachakis consistently goes for broke on the arching melodies, delivering detailed dispatches from the kid who doesn't know when to leave the party.